RIAA as I understand it is an electronic analog phonograph equalization so that low frequencies did not require analogously great topographic differences for lower frequencies.

The RIAA is not an equalization curve.

The RIAA is an association. Over their decades long existence they have endorsed and supported many measures to benefit the recording industry. Their scope of their membership has caused many of those initiatives to become de facto standards. The phono equalization curve to which I believe you are referring was just one of those many 'standards'. In fact this standard was an amalgamation of many in place at individual studios and pressing plants over the years. Examples would include:
Columbia-78, Decca-U.S., European (various), Victor-78 (various), Associated, BBC, NAB, Orthacoustic, World, Columbia LP, FFRR-78 and microgroove, and AES.

The RIAA lives on today and has in place various algorithms, curves etc for digital recording. Many people are under the misunderstanding that digital recording is a matter of WYIIWYO (what you input is what you output). Although the digital audio format is capable of that, due to the many codecs and variations of media and intended playback situations several parameters must still be controlled. Whether it's dithering in the top end - the blain of SACD or merely rolling off the low end so as to not damage low typical low frequency transducers - there are a lot of things at play.

I still don't see any discussion of the loudness wars that have lead to dynamic compression and clipped wave forms regardless of the technical abilities of the CD medium.

To quote Bob Dylan:

""You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like—static"

Also, Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree mentioned how he considered placing a message on record sleeves of their Deadwing album that reads as follows:

"Please note that this record may not be mastered as loudly as some of the other records in your collection. This is in order to retain the dynamic range and subtlety of the music. Please, use your volume knob." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

It is known by these artists and many experts that the loudness wars have lead to many CDs being produced to sound worse than they could in an effort to make them louder. In many cases, this loudness has lead to clipping, squashed wave forms, and limited dynamic range.

As I mentioned, CDs have the ability to sound great, but they do not often live up to their specs. Kind of like owning a ferrari and pulling a trailer behind it. Yes, it has capabilities, but if you don't use it properly it does not live up to its potential.

Anyway, like I mentioned, I have many, many more CDs than vinyl...not even close. However, vinyl can sound great and anyone that just writes it off based on a technical paper is missing out. Many vinyl albums are mixed for sound quality and not for loudness, so they have an advantage over albums that are mixed with loudness as the main criteria.